Ethiopia is a wonderful country with pleasant temperatures and friendly people. I enjoyed the food, the people, and the sites I visited on my recent trip there. I’ll certainly be returning at some point in the future. However, every rule has an exception. The Danakil Depression, which is in the northeastern corner of the country …
Latitude: 23° 50.5338′ N Longitude: 15° 51.4997′ W No one knew what to expect in Western Sahara. Last year, the West Africa trip ended in Senegal, so even the staff didn’t know what to expect. It isn’t a place that most people even know about, and the name doesn’t really lend itself to much more …
Latitude: 30° 25.2′ N Longitude: 9° 37.72′ W Our arrival in Morocco marks the last day of our trip. Most of the countries we visited on this tour had very low numbers of tourists. Morocco was one of the exceptions. Because of that, I assumed that going through customs and immigration for Morocco would be …
Latitude: 28° 30.4763’ S Longitude: 15° 34.7887’ E A day at sea for a passenger vessel is a challenge for the crew. You have a group of people who are stuck in a small space with nothing to do. There is no television. Internet and telephone connectivity is either non-existent or severely limited. On larger …
Latitude: 33° 54.2614′ S Longitude: 18° 24.9283′ E Checking passengers on to a ship is not the same as checking into a hotel. You can’t just have people check-in willy nilly over the course of a day. There are issues with security, immigration, and the port authority, so the first day is usually at a …
Latitude: 13° 21.6551’ S Longitude: 12° 20.2529’ E Thoughts On the Map of Africa The map of Africa is one of the most nonsensical and artificial things on Earth. With the exception of the recent border between Sudan and South Sudan, every one of the lines on the map was drawn by European powers without …
Latitude: 22° 40.6211′ S Longitude: 14° 31.4368′ E Day 5 brought the good ship Expedition to the port of Walvis Bay, Namibia. Walvis Bay is the most important port in all of Southwestern Africa. It not only is the primary port for Namibia, but also Botswana and parts of Angola, South Africa and Zambia. Formerly …
Latitude: 26° 38.4852′ S Longitude: 15° 09.2238′ E Today we made our first stop on the trip: Luderitz, Namibia. I had been looking forward to Luderitz for one reason: the Kolmanskopf Ghost Town. I had seen photos taken by other photographers that blew me away. Kolmanskopf is a German diamond mining town just outside of …
Latitude: 0° 54.7307’ S Longitude: 7° 46.5771’ E I should probably spend a bit of time talking about the internet and communications because I know many people have questions about it. The internet connection aboard the Expedition isn’t great and it isn’t cheap. I can’t complain about it too much however, as I am still …